Main St. Mercantile Now Open Tue - Sat, 8 - 2

Formerly known as the Bean Shop, the newly created Mercantile will open on Tuesday, October 19th, five days a week. All of our freshly roasted coffees will be available to purchase along with a daily house drip, and made to order coffees on our new Poursteady brewer. While there is a bit of standing room, for now we’re only offering items to go.

Joining the team at Main St. is Tommy Vanture, who has taken over as the retail director of MGC. New to Ann Arbor, Tommy brings over a decade of customer service experience in the food and beverage industry.

The Mighty Good Coffee Mercantile at 217 N. Main Street will be open Tuesday through Saturday, 8 am - 2pm, offering coffee-to-go and pastries from Detroit-based bakery, Avalon and Ann Arbor based Jefferson Market. Coffee tasting and brewing classes will also resume in the future. For folks looking to upgrade their coffee accoutrements, we’ll still sell brewing gear by Chemex, Baratza and Hario and the staff will be on hand to offer tips and tricks to get the most out of your home coffee set-up.

Summer Time Iced Coffee Recipe

For a refreshing summer treat, here’s a favorite recipe for the Japanese style iced coffee. Lighter roasts, like the Guatemala or Brazil mentioned above work well for this method. In short, you are brewing over ice, replacing cubes for part of the water you would normally use. This method is for a single 20 oz. cup using a Hario style dripper, but you can modify for a full pot too:

1. Start with 32 grams of freshly coffee, ground on a normal “drip” setting is fine.

2. Place 210 grams of ice in your large glass, or ~7-9 large ice cubes.

3. Place the coffee in your filter and slowly pour ~75 grams of water over the grounds making sure they’re fully saturated. Slowly add another 175 grams of water and let it fully filter through.

4. Remove the filter and add 4-5 more ice cubes to the glass and enjoy!

If you want to add sugar, it’s easiest to do so during the brewing so it will fully dissolve and blend more easily.

If you’re in need of brewing supplies for this recipe, we have an assortment of Hario products available on our Gifts and Gear Page

Whirlwind in Guatemala

Freshly harvested La Loma

This past week, I was fortunate to be able travel to visit with coffee producers in Guatemala for the first time. The week was jam packed with visits to farms, cooperatives and and exporters covering Guatemala City, Acatenago, Antigua, Huehuetenango and even a short trip into Mexico for tacos.

Glamping

The trip started with our arrival in Guatemala City on Sunday and being driven to Coffee Awakening, a “glamping” site set up to host visitors to the Dinámica Coffee operation in the 18th zone of Guatemala City. This rather large, 3rd generation family owned property encompasses almost 100 acres right inside the city and houses the coffee milling, exporting, education center and the Glampground for visitors. In addition to the coffee business, the family also operates a brick factory, construction business and several Chili’s franchises. Most of the family members live on the property, and there is other housing for employees and their families.

Before sunset, we toured La Labor, the small farm located just down the street owned by Francisco Quezada, who grew up working for on the family farm. His grandfather taught him to drive the tractor starting at 6 years old and he’s never left the family business. Francisco exports his own coffee small roasters all over the world under the Montenegro Farms moniker.

Tasting the newest coffees

On Monday, we toured the Dinámica operation. In addition to processing their own families coffees, they work with producers throughout Guatemala to bring their coffees to markets globally. Their model is not to compete with the largest exporters, or grow to a mass size, but to continue to invest in the people throughout the coffee chain foster sustainable growth, quality and success.

During the tour, we were able to taste 35 different coffees that are the first pickings from the current harvest. Slightly overwhelming to sort through them and ponder what we might bring in this coming year.

From there, we loaded up for a 3+ hour journey west to visit Finca Esmeralda in Acetenango. Mid-way, we switched from the bus to 4 wheel drive SUV’s as the roads are un-passable in anything else. The drive gave us views of some of the most beautiful countryside as we navigated around Volcan de Agua, one of the largest of the 20+ volcanos in Guatemala. Producer Hermes Peres Higueros not only manages his own farm, but represents the Cafe de Acetenango, a collective of producers in the region that certify all the members coffees. After lunch in the farm house, we loaded up for the 2 hour drive to Antigua. I did not relish another long drive over the dirt roads, but was eager to settle into a hotel for the night. After a fantastic dinner at a local Guatemalan restaurant that served traditional Mayan dishes, the day was over.

View of Volcan de Aqua from Antigua

On Wednesday morning, we had a few hours to walk the ancient city and enjoy coffee at a local cafe. Fat Cat Coffee resembles many of the cafes we have come to appreciate in the US and other parts of the world. They served locally grown coffees that they roasted themselves and even had coffee from friends of ours in El Salvador. It’s amazing how small the coffee world can seem sometimes. We loaded up for a visit to CafeMar, another small milling and exporting operation run by a multigenerational family. Again, the work with small producers in the Antigua region to bring unique coffees to roasters that otherwise might never be known. We tasted another 24 coffees from small producers before taking a lunch break. While the number of coffees can seem overwhelming, over time, it’s becomes easier to distinguish the stellar from the great, and great from the good and know that all of these represent something unique.

We loaded up again the drive back to Guatemala City to catch a plane to Huehuetenango. It’s a short 30 min. flight vs. 8+ hours in the car. Our De Havilland turbo prop plane barely held our group and my front row seat and the open cockpit gave me a great view from the pilot's perspective. Much better than the back seat of a Toyota.

We landed and drove another 45 min. west along the Pan-Pacific highway which runs from Alaska to Argentina. Our hotel was only 5 miles from the Guatemala - Mexico border. (More on that later.) We arrived well after dark and called it a night.

The goats

Rolando Villatoro

We again loaded up into SUV’s for visits to local Huehuetenango producers, stopping first at Finca Buenos Aires. Producers Hector and Diana Diaz made some big changes in the past few years as they downsized from 100 hectares to 40 to adapt to both the market for coffee and the local economy. In essence, having a larger farm was not sustainable. Between a labor shortage and the lower prices for coffee, they decided to focus on solely on higher quality coffee instead of volume. One of the most interesting thing we saw was a small herd of goats eating away at the undergrowth, eliminating the need to hand weeding around the coffee trees. From there we visited Finca la Rosas where Rollando Villatoro maintains a farm that’s been in operation for over 100 years and 4 generations. He’s a gregarious and dedicated producer with many different varietals planted that he carefully maintains to yield his prize winning coffees year after year. After lunch and coffee from his farm, we made our way to Finca La Union. This farm had been abandoned years ago until Carlos Rivas took over and revitalized the operation. In addition to clearing the way to begin harvesting from the neglected trees, he cleared away areas for new trees and more specialized varietals. Again, this is the movement away from lower quality and lower priced commodity coffees to the more specialized coffees that bring sustainable prices, something that was evident everywhere we visited. Smaller is footprints and higher quality are becoming the norm while specialized exporters who work with these producers can help find the market for otherwise undiscovered coffees.

We finished our visit in that night by driving to the Guatemala - Mexico border and walking across to our hosts favorite taco stand. It was somewhat surprising that while there was a gate for vehicles moving back and forth, there wasn’t any apparent restriction on people walking from one country to the other. I found this to be slightly confusing going both directions that gives pause to examine the complexities and realities between what we read and what we experience first hand.

The next morning, we made our way back to the airport and the short flight to Guatemala City and our last night at the Glampground. Our short 4 days encompassed most of the major coffee growing regions and gave us insight into one of the best coffee growing countries and also the poorest at the same time. While agriculture, including coffee, are the major exports, money flowing from illegal drugs and Guatemalans living in other countries far exceed any other form of income, a fact of life that we are insulated against when enjoying our daily brew. The rhetoric streaming from Washington does little to point out the realities of how we live our lives compared to the majority people living and working in Guatemala and other coffee growing countries. At times, it’s hard to enjoy the coffee I drink, yet I know that in some way, our efforts to connect with these producers, exporters and other people involved in the coffee chain will hopefully raise their standard of living and educate coffee drinkers north of the border.

Thanks for reading!

David

Travels in Colombia, 2019

Our group at 6000 ft., atop Finca El Silencio

Having just returned from the town of Jardin, Colombia for the 3rd year is a row, I’m reflecting a bit on how each year, a different discovery is found on the trips. A lot of this has to do with the itinerary that our hosts, the Vasquez family, create each year, but also the people we meet, and the interactions we have with new farmers and fellow coffee travelers. This year, we were fortunate to have Jackie Victor and Atiba Seitu from Avalon Breads in Detroit accompany us. It was their first trip to visit the place where we source the coffee used in all of their cafes and restaurants and provided a in depth view of how we go about sourcing their coffee.

We visited the 1 hectare El Llano farm plot on the Resguardo Indigena de Cristianía owned by Humberto Carupia, who processes coffee for his entire family, where attention to detail and quality allow him to reinvest in equipment and send his daughter to university for an engineering degree. At the other end we took a long trek (2 1/2 hours) with Hektor Ramírez at El Silencio whose 99 hectare farm is divided between coffee (47 hectares) and protected habitat and conservation area (45 hectares). These two provided an up close view of the dedication to quality and sustainability that make our partners some of the best to work with in the world.

When not moving from one place to the other, we tasted unique and distinctive regional coffees and small micro-lots from more than a dozen other producers that we have met in the past, or didn’t have time to visit personally on this trip. We spent an afternoon in the Empressas de Antioquia mill, delving into the process where producers have their coffee inspected, graded and purchased with 100% transparency and above average prices. I’m continually surprised each year at what’s uncovered that I did’t know the year before and happy to see the progress of coffee in this region. We can’t wait to visit again and see the changes that will take place over coming years.

Humberto Carupia, El Llano. High quality production allows his family to reinvestment in equipment.

Rogelio López - Angela Muñoz, Finca La Carmentulia

Atiba by the drying patio, El Llano

Daily cupping table of coffees available from area farms

Atiba at the cupping table.

Jackie and Atiba by an original Willy’s Jeep, which was manufactured right across the street from Avalon’s Bake House

Hello from the hill tops

In addition to tasting coffee, we were treated to some interesting Colombian delicacies.

In a few months, this coffee will land at our Main St. roasting plant.

The cathedral in Jardin decorated for the holidays.

Last look at the view until next year.

Downtown / Main St. News

To our Community:

After much consideration, we have made the difficult decision to close our downtown location—a place at which our community has gathered for great coffee and conversation for the past decade.

It’s been a hard decision.   Running a small family business is tough, but we’ve been blessed to have received so much support from so many.   With that support, Mighty Good has grown from a small roaster in a rented garage to one of the regions premium coffee roasters.   

Over the past 2 years, the challenges we faced in our desire to grow proved to be more than we could manage as business owners and as a family. We, the founders of Mighty Good, decided it would be best to begin the transition away from the retail café side of the business.  This past week, we began implementing a long thought out plan to downsize.

As we move the business forward, we will be focusing on our growth as a nationally recognized roaster of coffee.   We will continue working with the farmers, co-ops and mills to bring you the very best coffee the world has to offer.   Our beans will continue to be available at grocery stores, restaurants and other cafes as well as at our Arbor Hills location.

Rest assured, the wonderful smell of coffee drifting into the alley at North Main Street, though, will continue as the Roastery is staying put. We will continue training for our wholesale customers and begin offering coffee development courses for professionals and enthusiasts alike. And you can still visit us at our Arbor Hills location for a tasty latte or creamy nitro cold brew.

From the depths of our hearts, thank you for being so mighty good!

David Myers, Nic Sims, Jim Levinsohn

Micro Honeys from Tarrazu

Honeyed coffees on raised drying beds, Finca La Pastora

Entrance to Finca La Pastora

The family

Cara and Kaitlyn picking coffee at La Minita

The Tarrazu Valley in Costa Rica is one of the most well known and recognized regions for producing great coffees and we’ve been roasting some of them since the beginnings of MGC. But something has been slowly changing over the past decade. That is the ever expanding offerings of smaller and more distinctive lots of coffee we can source. The micro-lot revolution! From our view at 1700 meters, no one exemplifies this more than Minor Esquivel of Finca La Pastora. His farm, in the San Pablo de Dota region, has been in the same family for over 60 years. During his stewardship, he has become an innovator, working on new processes and continually reinvesting in his operations to further differentiate his offerings and create a sustainability family business. The original estate has been divided into 3 separate farms; 2 for his daughters and La Pastora on which he built his own mirco-processing mill and more recently a full coffee lab for roasting and testing his coffees. He also added a small guest house that overlooks the valley so that visitors can now stay for a few days and work with the family during the harvest.

His experimentation with honey processed coffees is what really sets this operation apart from the rest. This involves removing only the outermost skin of the coffee fruit, leaving the sweet mucilage intact. The coffee is place on raised African drying beds for 14-20 days, and as it does, the coffee takes on a honey color, hence the name. Minor takes this even further by removing the skin in varying amounts to create different flavor profiles. Named for the various honey hues, his lots include yellow, red and black honey. He also produces a traditional full natural and African process where the coffee is left in large plastic barrels for 5 days, then hand washed of the pulp in the same containers. Looking around on the day we visited, all of his work was in plain view. Standing in the middle of all these coffees creates an overwhelming sense of anticipation of what these will taste like in a cup!

In addition to Finca Las Pastora, we visited Hacienda La Minita and Beneficio del Rio Tarrazu where many of our coffees are processed. Cara, our lead coffee trainer, and Kaitlyn, the Arbor Hills cafe manager were along for this trip and got to see first hand the complete seed to cup process. We were treated to tastings of the new crop of Costa Rican coffees we have been roasting for many years. Hacienda Rio Negro will again be a mainstay of our offerings for 2019 and we’ll also try a new Dota lot, La Gladiola which has a distinct floral brightness.

In only a few short months, these coffees will be available to us in Ann Arbor and we can’t wait to offer them to you!

Colombia, Our Last Trip of the Year

The first week of December, we made our annual trip to Jardin, Colombia to visit several of the farms we buy coffee from and to taste the newest offerings that will be shipped in early 2019. Our days were spent between the Empressas de Antioquia, the mill where all the coffee is processed, and visiting farms which means piling into Jeeps and heading out on the back roads not far from the town center. We were fortunate that our trip leader Jim brought along a drone giving us, and you, the opportunity to see some of the landscape from a different point of view.

The above video was taken after we had already driven through the mud reaching the highest point we could drive to this year. Arboleda reaches almost 2000 meters above sea level and you can see that coffee is grown, and picked from bottom to top. The views are spectacular in every direction. It was especially rewarding to have Jahn White and Trent Lytle, our two roasters, along on this trip. For Trent, it was his first time traveling to origin and the insights he gained will last a life time.

Among the highlights was visiting Finca Margaritas where producer Lourdes Restrepo has been turning out excellent harvests for the past 14 years since taking over operations after her husband passed away. It was especially rewarding to bring her a few bags of her coffee that we roasted just a few days before our visit.

After visiting with Lourdes for a few hours, we spent the remainder of a day visiting Resguardi Indigena de Christiana. This large plot of land is home to 450 families that collectively grow coffee and sugar cane that is sold commercially along with other crops that provide food for those living on the native lands. The community is largely self contained including their own schools. Intricate beaded jewelry made on the reservation is also very popular with locals and tourists.

Having been some of the first settlers in this region over 200 years ago, the Christiana successfully regained control of their ancestral lands in 1976. Keeping their history and traditions alive is an important part of community life.

The elder women performed several dances for us before we departed. By far, this was the most in depth visit to a coffee community we’ve over the past 8 years.

Our trip ended with a 4 hour cab ride back to the Medellin airport. Since our flight schedule was different than everyone else, our hosts booked us the ride. We realized this wasn’t an official taxi when the driver mentioned that if we happened to get pulled over by the police, remember to tell them that we were his good friends visiting from the US and had been staying at his house all week. Fortunately, we made it to the airport without incident.

Over the next few months, we’ll continue to receive samples of coffee from this years harvest and decide which will be the next offering at Mighty Good come April. We’re very much looking forward to sharing that coffee with you.

Brazil Origin Trip

In November, I was fortunate to be able to lead a group of coffee professionals from around the world on a trip to the Cerrado Mineiro region of Brazil, one of the largest growing areas in the world’s largest coffee producing country. Our trip was sponsored by the Coffee Roasters Guild, the Specialty Coffee Association, and hosted by Gustavo Guimaraes from Cerrado Coffee Growers Federation, a collection of farmers, cooperatives, and support organizations that represent just over 12% of all coffee produced in Brazil.

Our eclectic group of 21 travelers came from Greece, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Switzerland, England, Nicaragua, Tanzania, Kenya, and the continental US (Houston, Denver, New York City, Ann Arbor). Also represented were various roles in the industry such as producers, baristas, equipment service technicians, and roasters.

We began our time in the town of Belo Horizonte where the International Coffee Week festival was held. This is a large regional trade show which also coincided with the world championships for coffee competitions (latte art, brewers cup, and mixology). The competition for the best coffees in Brazil was also going on and we had the opportunity to sample the top 25 coffees entered into this year’s competition.

After a few days at the trade show, we headed to the town of Petrocinio, a 6 hour bus ride into the heart of the Minas Gerais growing region. This area is home to several cooperatives and farms growing arguably the best coffees in all of Brazil. Gustavo had arranged a high paced tour of the region over 5 packed days which started with us enjoying coffee at dusk atop a hill overlooking Petrocinio, underneath a large statue of Christ.

The next morning, we toured the Coffee Center for Excellence, a regional experimental farm which showcases a range of coffee varietals and again were served coffees expressing the wide range of flavor profiles the region is able to produce. We sampled some of the robusta coffees that are starting to make their way into specialty coffee shops in Brazil and beyond.

We then headed to visit Gabriel Nunes, the winner of the 2017 Cup of Excellence for Brazil in 2017. Winning this prize is a big honor for a coffee producer. Usually this is a very small lot of coffee, maybe only 1-2 60k bags which brings in a very high price at a coffee auction. Gabriel used his winnings to build a fabulous new tasting room, coffee lab, and entertainment space for his farm visitors. After a tour and tasting, we feasted on Brazilian BBQ late into the evening.

The next morning took us to visit Marcos Antonio de Oliveira, a small family farm of 12 hectares. Marcos has also won several prizes in regional coffee competitions and is part of a small collective of growers that work together cooperatively. In addition to coffee, he raises dairy cattle and produces an excellent cheese that accounts for 30% of their family income. Winnings from different competitions have afforded the family to send their children to university - and they all still come home to help on the weekends.

From there, we stopped to see Gabriela Baracat Sanchez, whose 200 hectare farm is more typical of the Brazilian coffee landscape. Gabriela took over operations of the farm from her father over a decade ago, while her other siblings took on management of the family’s other ventures. This stop included coffee and a festive lunch party. The main dish was entire rib racks of fresh beef cooked over an open fire. It was on this stop that I began to see how these coffee families create multi-generational legacies on a scale I have not seen on visits to other coffee producing countries.

Ribs!

After a long lunch, we headed to Cafebras one of the co-ops in the region that also has an excellent lab facility complete with espresso bar. It’s never too late it seems to drink coffee in Brazil. Again, the tasting provided a view into the broad variety of regional coffees available.

For our last day of farm visits, we drove almost 2 hours east to Sao Luiz Estate Coffee, another of the larger family producers in the region. Here the parents have largely turned the operation of the estate over to their children, Ana and Miguel. Over the past three years, they have been transforming this 300 hectare operation into a showcase for specialty grade coffee which now accounts for up to 30% of their overall harvest. While we didn’t taste coffee at the farm, they made arrangements for us to try it at their co-op the next day.

From there, we visited the Carmocer cooperative which represents several coffee farmers along with other agricultural products grown in the area. Carmocer represents the “Mulheres de Chaves”, a group of women-owned and operated agri-businesses in the area. While there, we met Ismael Andrade, whose micro lots of coffee garnered the Cup of Excellence for Brazil for this year. Among the coffees we tasted at Carmocer, his were among the tastiest. While the COE lot had long since been auctioned off, several other small lots are still available. He easily quoted us prices in Euros per kilo and offered us logistical help to get them into the US.

Our last morning arrived too soon it seemed. Having already sampled hundreds of coffees up to then, there were still a few more to enjoy at the offices of Expocaccer, the second largest (by volume) coffee co-op in Brazil. Looking to us more like a grain harvester in the Iowa corn fields, this is an amazing operation. Tracking vast amounts of coffee from macro lots to micro in meticulous detail, they’re entrusted by their members to make sure their coffees reach their intended destinations around the world. Their offices include a state of the art coffee lab as well as a coffee bar / roastery that’s open to the public. By lunchtime, we had tasted another thirty coffees, including several from farms and farmers we met during out trip.

Gustavo, agronomist and coffee guide

En route to the airport for the 20 hour journey back to Ann Arbor, I had plenty of time to reflect on the great variety of products Brazil has to offer, from coffee to cheese, to grilled meat and regional pastries, to sweet treats.

I also met people who are so dedicated to preserving and improving their family farms, and helping their neighbors do the same.

And, some of my conceptions of Brazilian coffee production were changed. While I often think of coffee from this region as having a uniform profile, it’s clear now that there are many more options available to further define our offerings. And having the chance to share this experience with such a diverse group of fellow travelers only made the trip that much sweeter.

Mighty Good Tailgate

Wolverine fans love upping the ante when it comes to creating the perfect tailgate. We take this as seriously as you. Bringing interesting food and drinks to your event is part of the tradition in Ann Arbor.

We recommend the following options, unique to Mighty Good Coffee, to bring to the next football event:

1. Our seasonal latte: Maple and Smoked Salt. This may be your new go-to autumn drink as it features real Michigan maple syrup and a dash of smoked salt.

2. Or enjoy a terrific new coffee offering: El Salvador Finca La Siberia. Sourced directly from the Raphael and Carmen Silva family estate, this medium roast is produced from a single Bourbon varietal. The cup has notes of toffee and plum with a lemon zest finish.

Known for their beneficial ecological practices, the trees on this farm produce 60 pounds of fresh oxygen each day.

Call ahead to order a box of coffee for your tailgate, a box comes with  (12) 8 oz. cups and all the fixings to enjoy a great cup of coffee on a crisp fall football Saturday. Or come by and load up a drink tray with lattes and cappuccinos for all your friends!

Happy Tailgating. Make it a Mighty Good One!

'Tis The (Iced Coffee) Season

Summer in Michigan is lovely—the greenery! The long days!—but can be oppressive, unless you really enjoy humidity and mosquitoes. Consecutive days of 90 degree weather take their toll, and it’s enough to have any right minded individual dreaming of a long weekend at the lake, or at the very least a small thunderstorm.

We spend the winter longing for sunshine, and the summer trying to figure out how to stay cool. Luckily, Mighty Good Coffee is here to show you how.

Iced coffee is the best. No matter the form it takes—cold brew, iced latte, nitro, or an espresso cocktail—it is refreshing, delicious and provides that much-needed caffeinated kick to get you through the hot summer day.

At Mighty Good, we have an extensive range of drinks for you to sample (depending on location). Here’s the lowdown:

COLD BREW

The original. The best. This dark-roast Brazil is steeped overnight to bring out the deep, rich flavors for which our cold brew is known. The resulting concentrate is then cut with water or milk (or try chocolate milk for a decadent treat) and then served over ice. Available in 16 oz servings at all our locations, or find ready-to-drink bottles at Plum Market, Busch’s and various other grocery stores around South-east Michigan (as well as our cafes).

Main Street also serves 12 oz glasses of Ethiopia Sidamo cold brew, essentially blueberry sorbet in coffee form, served uncut.

NITRO COLD BREW

Double Black blend (previously Black Diamond) is brewed like cold brew, then infused with nitrogen and kegged, producing a smooth, silky drink reminiscent of a stout or Guinness. Served right out of the tap (no ice or milk needed) in a 12 oz size at Main Street and Arbor Hills. This is the only one of our iced drinks not available as decaf—everything else can be deliciously decaffeinated upon request.

ICED LATTES

All our lattes, made with Calder Dairy milk and Espresso #46, are available iced. Brown Sugar Sea Salt, Lavender Honey or Cocoa Latte—they’re equally marvelous cold. These are served in 16 oz sizes and available at all our locations.

ESPRESSO TONIC

Like a gin and tonic, except without the alcohol and with, y’know, coffee. A cool, bubbly, invigorating summer drink—a shot of Espresso #46 is poured onto Top Note tonic and served on ice. Available in a 12 oz size at each Mighty Good cafe.

ICED AMERICANO

An Americano, but iced. It really is that easy. Espresso #46 in cold, filtered water, with ice—a cool, crisp caffeine infusion. Try one at any of our locations in a 16 oz size.

JAPANESE ICED POUR-OVER

Want to try one of our coffees iced? We can do that, using this incredible iced pour-over method popularized in Japan. Replacing half of the water with ice, this method produces a delicate cup that’s flash-iced to preserve the unique flavor characteristics of the particular coffee. Especially suited to our Black Label range—we recommend the Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Worka Fair Trade Organic. Available at Main Street and Arbor Hills in a 16 oz size.

ICED TEA

With help from our friends at Arbor Teas, we have three iced options for the summery tea lovers out there: a black Assam, green Jasmine and, for those looking to avoid caffeine, an herbal Chamomile Mint. Available in a 16 oz size at all our locations (or try the Peach Rooibos exclusively at the Jefferson Market).

AFFOGATO

A scoop of Calder Dairy vanilla ice cream, topped with a shot of our Espresso #46—it’s the perfect post-panini dessert at Arbor Hills.

ESPRESSO MILKSHAKE

Oh yes. Calder Dairy vanilla ice cream, milk and Espresso #46 are blended together to make a luxurious, velvety treat with a kick. This one is also only available at our Arbor Hills cafe—come on by and try them out!

So stop in, grab an iced pick-me-up and beat the heat. At Main Street, Arbor Hills, South University or the Jefferson Market, we’ve got your summer covered.

Mighty Good Partnerships

We can't do it all alone. Fostering a sense of community is important to everyone, and small businesses are no different.

At Mighty Good, we have learned to focus on what we do best: roast and brew delicious coffee (and cook delicious meals at the Jefferson Market). Then we seek out like-minded people to help us source and deliver the other elements.

As a result, over the years we've developed our own community of suppliers who work with us to bring you perfect pastries, unique teas, fresh produce, and the oh-so-important Brown Sugar Sea Salt latte.

We hope you will join us in supporting some of those key partners, listed below, as we all work hard to bring you great food and beverages at all the Mighty Good Coffee locations:

Avalon International Breads

Since 1997, Avalon Bakery has been providing the people of Detroit with wholesome, nutritious loaves of bread. We had been working with Avalon occasionally over the years, but our partnership was truly cemented when plans were put in place for opening several new locations in Detroit, Ann Arbor and in the Delta terminal at Metro Airport.

Over the past few years, we’ve learned a lot from working with their staff at every level and benefit daily from these relationships that build each other up and create a stronger community for us all.  

We get a daily delivery of a variety of delicious Avalon pastries - croissants, muffins and cookies - for our customers to pair with their morning coffee.

Calder Dairy

Where to begin with Calder Dairy? They've been in business since 1946, and we've been using them since our very first cafe opened on Main Street. Crates of whole, skim and chocolate milk, not forgetting the half and half, are delivered weekly to all our locations, which we then steam and pour atop espresso to form lattes, cappuccinos and our ever-popular cocoa drinks (seriously, if you haven't yet you should definitely stop in and try a Sea Salt Cocoa Latte).

During the summer, Calder also supplies us with ice cream, which we use to make affogatos (espresso poured over ice cream) and our Espresso Milkshake - the perfect summer treat.

Boochy Mama

Boochy Mama is the brainchild of Stacy Jurich, Toledo native and sister of our general manager, Nick. She learned to make kombucha while living in Hawaii in 2010, and, once back in Toledo, Boochy Mama grew organically from there.

With an always-updating lineup of flavors that change with the seasons -  from Winterland Bliss (Balsam fir, peppermint, and sage) to Pedal Power (strawberry and elderflower), Boochy Mama has become an important part of our grab-and-go refrigerator lineup.

Tasty Bakery

It can be tricky for those with a gluten intolerance to find healthy (as well as palatable) snacks and treats. Most are highly processed, made with unnatural ingredients, or just plain don't taste that good.

Started by Julie Rabinovitz in 2009 after she was diagnosed with Celiac disease, Tasty Bakery aims to change all that - offering simple, nutritious, gluten free snacks to the good people of Ann Arbor.

At Mighty Good, we want to encourage everyone to stop in and enjoy our cafes, no matter what their dietary restrictions, so we're delighted to offer Tasty's gluten free (and vegan!) granola bars, brownies and cookies at all our cafes.

Arbor Teas

Another Ann Arbor business with whom we have forged close ties over the years, Arbor Teas sources and sells the best quality organic and sustainable tea from all around the world. Tea and coffee have much in common, from seasonality to growing conditions to social impact - all things that Arbor Teas, like us, takes extremely seriously.

Our popular Chai Latte is anchored by an Arbor Teas Fair Trade organic Masala Chai base, brewed and mixed with honey and then steamed with your choice of milk - it's also equally delicious iced.

Bear Creek Bars

Bear Creek Farm in Marshall, Michigan, produces various items in its on-site commercial kitchen, but our favorites are their energy bars - two of which, the Go Bar and the Green Bar, we sell in our cafes. Packed with protein and a healthy serving of nuts, these bars will keep you going on even the busiest of days.

Bear Creek also makes juices and granola, as well as selling produce from their farm stand and at various farmers markets around their locality.

Argus Farm Stop

Speaking of which. What if you want to visit your local farmers market and stock up on vegetables, but it's the middle of winter? Previously, you'd be forced to head to the nearest Meijer and call it good. But Ann Arbor now has an alternative: Argus Farm Stop. A year-round market where you can buy local produce from local farmers, Argus has two Stops: the original on W. Liberty, and a second location on Packard.

Mighty Good cold brew, bagged coffee and Jefferson Market soups & salads (at the Packard location) line the shelves, alongside other Michigan-made products and, of course, the freshest local veggies. It's a sustainable, affordable, and delightful way to buy your groceries.

Matty J's Bakery And Cafe

Founded in 2017, Matty J's is a bakery and cafe just down the road in Saline, and one of our newer partners. Matty J's provides the Jefferson Market with bread throughout the week, with which we craft our ever-changing lineup of inventive sandwiches.

As well as baking delicious bread, Matty J's brews up Mighty Good coffee using a beautiful purple La Marzocco Linea - make sure to grab a cup (and a cookie) next time you're in Saline.

Grazing Fields Eggs

Grazing Fields is an established Michigan, multi-farm cooperative and wholesaler of natural free-range brown eggs and non-GMO pork products. We use their wholesome and brightly yolked eggs in our brunch items every weekend during Saturday and Sunday service at The Jefferson Market.

Frog Holler Produce

At the Jefferson Market, we want to make sure we're using the freshest (and local-est) fruit and vegetables in our salads and sandwiches, and in our weekend brunch items. This is where Frog Holler comes in - with more than 40 years of experience sourcing the best produce in the area, we know we can rely on them to keep us fully stocked.

Fresh, seasonal, and of the highest quality at all times, the produce they provide us with makes its way to you in the form of, for example, our Sunflower Salad: spring greens, asparagus, snap peas, sunflowers shoots & seeds, pea tendrils in a sunflower-orange vinaigrette. It's as good as it sounds.

Mighty Good Coffee & Cinetopia Film Festival 2018

Mighty Good Coffee & Cinetopia Film Festival 2018

Photo courtesy of Cinetopia

Cinetopia Film Festival takes place May 31st through June 10th, 2018

Being part of our local community is integral to Mighty Good Coffee's culture. In fact, it's right there in the Philosophy section of our website:

"We believe that being involved in our community is one of the best ways to build community. Over the years, we’ve been involved in a variety of projects, events and other local grass roots causes intent on keeping the local flavor of Ann Arbor strong."

To this end, we are always looking for opportunities to get involved in local initiatives, partnerships, fundraisings and sponsorships.

This year we have combined all these into one with our collaboration with Cinetopia Film Festival, the goal of which is to bring the best films from the world's best film festivals to the good people of Southeast Michigan. 

Since 2012, Cinetopia has brought films from festivals such as Cannes, Sundance, Tribeca, Berlin and SXSW to Ann Arbor and Detroit, along with special guest appearances from the actors, directors, producers and writers behind some of these films. Aside from all that movie-based goodness, there are also events, parties and educational programming to ensure you get the most out of each year's festival. 

From May 31st through June 10th, the Michigan and State Theatres, as well as venues all across Detroit (the Henry Ford's IMAX screen is always one to seek out), will be hosting a variety of films, from documentaries to comedies, foreign language action films to local indie favorites. 

We've always been big fans of Cinetopia here at Mighty Good Coffee, so when the opportunity to get involved more deeply presented itself, we couldn't say no. To that end, we'll be sponsoring two films directly, as well as offering a coupon to all pass-holders to get money off a Mighty Good drink or Jefferson Market meal during the festival. 

The first film we will be sponsoring is Nico, 1988. Written and directed by Susanna Nicchiarelli and starring Trine Dyrholm, the film tells the story of the former Velvet Underground singer's life after her fame has peaked.

From the Cinetopia website: "Struggling with her demons and the consequences of a muddled life, she longs to rebuild a relationship with her son, whose custody she lost long ago. A brave and uncompromising musician, Nico’s story is the story of a rebirth: of an artist, of a mother, of the woman behind the icon." Nico, 1988 plays Friday June 1st, Saturday June 2nd and Thursday June 7th at the State Theatre. Buy tickets here.

Our very own Nic Sims will be introducing the film on Friday, June 1st - showtime 6.15. Buy tickets for that show here.

Photo courtesy of Cinetopia

The second film we will be presenting is Never Goin' Back, the debut feature from writer-director Augustine Frizzell. The plot concerns two teenage high school dropouts who make ends meet working dead-end jobs at the same diner.

The Cinetopia website takes up the story: "Their dream vacation to sunny Galveston, Texas, is only a few shifts away. But after a drug deal goes bad and their home is invaded—and they have to serve a short stint in juvenile detention—their beach trip is in serious jeopardy. They’ll have to use every bit of guile their perpetually buzzed teenage brains can muster as they try to get (relatively) rich quick while wandering suburban Dallas." Never Goin' Back plays Friday, June 1st at the State and Friday, June 8th at College for Creative Studies in Detroit. Buy tickets here.

We're also offering a deal to passholders throughout the festival, to help you recharge and recaffeinate between movies. Passes of any kind (be it VIP All Access, movie-only, or student) will get a coupon for $1 off specialty lattes, $.50 off drip coffee, and $1 off meals at the Jefferson Market. Passes can be purchased here.

We're all really excited for next week's big festival kickoff, and hope to see you during the festival, either at the films or at one of our cafes. 

#becausecoffee #Cinetopia2018

New Coffee: Finca Las Margaritas, Colombia

We are delighted to finally be in possession of this particular coffee, Finca Las Margaritas, our favorite from our trip to Colombia back in December. We've had to wait a little while for the coffee to be fully harvested, processed and shipped to the United States, and then to make its way to our roastery, but as of last week it is available in all our cafes, online and in stores.

In December, we visited Finca Las Margaritas, in Vereda San Bartolo, Jardin. We met with Dona Lourdes Restrepo, who showed us around the farm and explained in great detail her family’s coffee growing philosophy. In a letter, Dona Lourdes describes how, as a third generation owner, she felt a strong connection to the land and a responsibility to carry on her forebears' work:

"Our ancestors were farmers, and not only have these lands been passed from generation to generation, but also their customs, their good examples, and above all the responsibility and effort this work always demands."

Dona Lourdes attended the government sponsored coffee agronomy program at SENA, which empowered her to develop the necessary skills to continually improve the cultivation methods and quality of the coffee she grows each year. As she says in her letter:

"The world is dynamic and changing, and the consumer ... has a lot of technology and a lot of knowledge, [so] we have to be at the forefront."

Las Margaritas has a productive area of 6 hectares, which amounts to 25,000 trees, divided and planted with varieties such as Caturro as well as 2000 and F6 (the latter two both coffee rust resistant varieties). A farm manager, Diego, oversees upwards of 15 employees during the peak season. In order to cut down on the intensive labor involved in transporting the coffee beans across the valley which separates the fields from the farm, they have installed an electric cable car to move the picked beans more easily.

Las Margaritas uses a number of ornamental and fruit trees, both as shade crops and to diversify their output—they received 500 such trees as part of a government-backed program to reduce farmers’ reliance on coffee as a single income source, as well as to promote best agronomic practices.

Banana and plantain trees are especially popular in the region, as the farmer merely has to tend to and harvest the fruit, which is then left at the side of the road where they are taken to market by a third party, thus leaving the family more time to focus their resources on coffee. Las Margaritas also uses native plants and trees to provide shade, which serves to encourage birds and other insects as a natural solution to pests.

In order to accentuate the clean, slightly fruity nature of this particular coffee, we decided to roast a little lighter than we would normally with a Colombian coffee. In doing so, we wanted to draw out the inherent sweetness, and highlight the beautifully subtle cherry notes that we first pinpointed during our visit. 

Overall, this is a wonderfully smooth, sweet and nuanced coffee that gains complexity as it cools, and warrants brewing via several different methods in order to be fully appreciated.

We are big fans here at Mighty Good, and we think you will be too. 

Buy a bag here

Specialty Coffee Expo, Seattle 2018

Photo by Cara McDonough

Every year, the specialty coffee industry comes together over a long weekend to learn, talk, engage, and network with others from across the country (and sometimes the world). Alternating between the east and west coast, this year's event took place April 19-22 at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle, WA. 

Hosted by the Specialty Coffee Association, the event offers opportunities for a whole range of coffee professionals, from baristas to roasters, business owners to green coffee buyers. Mighty Good has been privileged to attend the Expo for the past seven years, bringing back the knowledge and insights gained to further improve our coffee roasting, brewing and serving. 

The Expo consists of various classes for industry professionals to increase their knowledge, ranging from introductory courses on coffee processing to advanced barista certifications. Alongside all this are the finals of various coffee competitions, including the US Barista Championship and the US Brewers Cup, the winners of which go on to represent the United States at the world championships in Amsterdam.

There is also the celebrated Re:co Symposium, where the most influential minds in coffee science and research gather to discuss the state of coffee; topics this year included The State and Future of the Coffee Economy and Changing Tides: Building Diverse and Inclusive Coffee Communities. 

Attending such events, much like the Roasters Guild retreats and trips to origin, are a way for Mighty Good to stay connected to the wider coffee world, to make new connections and learn new skills, that we can then bring back to our customers in Ann Arbor. 

This year, alongside owners David and Nic, the Mighty Good delegation included Arbor Hills cafe manager Seth Taylor, barista Cara McDonough and production team member Trent Lytle.

Below they have shared some of their experiences.

David: Expo was full of exciting new ventures for me. There’s something new to learn each year and it’s also a great time to see people face to face.

As part of the newly united Coffee Roasters Guild Advisory Council, which joined the US and EU Roasters Guilds, we rolled out all our new branding and plans for the coming year. I will also be joining the Specialty Coffee Association Board as the representative from the Coffee Roasters Guild.

I also spent quite a bit of time teaching as I do each year. I had the opportunity to teach with Anne Cooper (Australia) and Rob Hoos (Portland), both at the forefront of roasting techniques and research on roasting systems.Their passion for coffee and roasting seems to know no bounds.  It’s always inspiring to work with them.

Trent: I attended the new class 'Can You Taste the Roasting System?' The teachers did a great job at dispelling the myth that you can taste the difference between coffee roasters. I learned about roast profile matching and a new cupping technique to help measure consistency between batches. 

Gallery Block

This is an example. To display your Instagram posts, double-click here to add an account or select an existing connected account. Learn more

Nic: One of the most interesting events I attended was a breakfast hosted by the International Women in Coffee Alliance where I listened to reports from the El Salvador and Rwanda chapters where there is significant and exciting investment in helping develop women-owned farms. 

In general, it was thrilling to see so many women in attendance this year, representing the gamut from farmers and vendors to roasters and retailers.

(You can read more about the Women in Coffee Alliance here: https://www.womenincoffee.org/impact)

Cara: This was my first time at a coffee expo, so it was a little overwhelming. There's a lot to see and do, so I tried to squeeze in as much as possible. I learned a lot of new tricks and techniques from the class I took there, and really enjoyed representing Mighty Good Coffee at the La Marzocco and Synesso booths.

Photo by Cara McDonough

Seth: Attending the SCA Expo was an invaluable experience. I met people from all over world and from all different areas of the coffee industry. I would be impossible not to come away from such an event without a broadened perspective and a deeper, more thorough understanding of the work we do. It was also very reaffirming to see how well our coffee and our barista skills hold up alongside some of the best in the industry. 

Needless to say, we're already looking forward to next year.

An Introduction To Coffee Processing

Have you ever wondered how coffee goes from ripe cherries waiting to be picked to those little brown beans that we bag up and send home with you? There’s the roasting process, of course, but the beans still have to get from the trees to our roastery—and that means removing the cherry from around the bean and drying it until it’s ready for export.

There are three main processing methods—washed, natural, and honey or pulp natural—as well as myriad localized variations. You might have seen these terms on our menu—for example, we have two Black Label coffees from Ethiopia right now, one a washed Chelelektu and the other a natural Worka. Occasionally we have a honey processed offering (check out our new Brazil Fazenda Sertaozinho), and our Sumatra Suku Batak is a giling basah or semi-washed, but in general our coffees are either washed or natural processed.

(To confuse things further, over the years the terms and methods have become intermingled, with variants on honey process (black honey, red honey and yellow honey) becoming common, as well as other terms such as “wet-hulled”, “semi dry” and “sun dried”.)

In order to hopefully clear things up, here’s a (very simplified) rundown on the three main methods, as well as some lesser-known techniques.

Washed

This method is especially popular in Central America, where water is plentiful and easily available. It involves soaking the beans to soften and remove the cherry—the fermentation stage—and then washing them in water to remove any remaining mucilage (the fruit of the cherry). Some farmers use a depulper to mechanically remove the cherry. The beans are then dried on patios in the sun or in mechanical driers before being prepped for export.

Washed coffees tend to exhibit characteristics reminiscent of their particular terroir: soil, temperature and altitude will all affect the final taste. You’ll tend to find cleaner, lighter tasting notes—citrus, tea, subtle chocolate—compared with a natural coffee. Our Guatemala Huehuetenango is a perfect example of a washed coffee: a clean, balanced cup, notes of dark honey and cinnamon with a subtle brightness.

Natural

Natural process is a simple and cost-effective technique, and is probably the oldest method of coffee processing. It is also, by its nature, the most environmentally friendly. It involves drying the bean inside the coffee cherry, either on a patio (turning every so often to ensure uniform drying), or in a mechanical drier. The dried cherry is then removed from the bean using a hulling machine.

Because the cherry is dried around the bean, natural process coffees tend towards the earthy, fruity flavor profiles. For example, the main reason our Ethiopia Sidamo tastes like a blueberry muffin is because of this natural process. Another natural, our Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Worka Fair Trade Organic, shows off the versatility of this method, with notes of strawberry and candied orange peel to add to a deliciously earthy complexity.

You’ll find mellower, full-bodied coffees using this method, but there is still a lot of room for nuance. In fact, natural's growing popularity has led some farmers in countries more famous for their washed coffees (Guatemala and El Salvador for example) to experiment with the natural process. In essence, this pragmatic approach helps them expand their offerings while at the same time lending an advantage in the increasingly competitive specialty coffee market.

Honey / Pulped Natural / Semi-washed (Giling Basah)

This can simply be described as a cross between washed and natural process. Of course the reality is more complex, but then everything in coffee farming is complex. Honey process (so called because the resulting brew is said to taste like honey) is achieved by de-pulping the coffee cherries soon after harvesting, then drying the beans with the remaining mucilage still attached. This tends to impart some of the depth and fruitiness of the natural process, but with the brightness and nuance of a washed.

The terminology used to describe these methods, which can vary from region to region and even farm to farm, leaves a lot of room for confusion. The process itself—based on the amount of cherry removed, drying time and how much water is involved—also varies based on tradition, preference or just available machinery. Pulped natural and Semi-washed are different terms for essentially the same processing method, but with varying amounts of the cherry removed before drying.

As for our coffees, just this week, we took delivery of a pulped natural Brazil Fazenda Sertaozinho, which is in the process of being tested and tasted before it goes out to our cafes. We are very excited for this particular coffee.

Our Sumatra Suku Batak is another good example of (one version of) the process, called giling basah in Indonesia: bold, earthy and spicy with a heavy body and syrupy mouthfeel.

This is a very basic introduction to coffee processing, and as with everything else in the coffee industry there is a lot more to learn. At the very least, we hope this little guide will give you more of an insight into why the coffee you’re drinking tastes the way it does.

A Mighty Good Education

Education has always been at the forefront of what we do here at Mighty Good Coffee. It was one of the reasons for the company's founding—to bring the world of specialty coffee to the people of Ann Arbor—and it continues to be the bedrock of our mission to this day. The Philosophy & Mission section of our website states:

WE believe in the perfect marriage of craft and science as expressed in our roasting and drink making processes.

WE believe we can continually improve and enhance the quality of our roasting, brewing, and customer service.

WE believe in connecting with and supporting other local businesses to enhance our community.

WE believe great coffee can be served without pretense.

WE believe in empowering our employees’ professional and personal growth.

WE believe in connecting with people beyond a single transaction.

Our commitment to education is threefold: 

We train our baristas comprehensively, ensuring that the coffee we serve (as well as the service we offer) is as good as it possibly can be. The training process for new baristas is rigorous, from brew methods to espresso training to customer service. After this training, we pride ourselves on supporting our staff in their wider coffee education, subsidizing outside training and certification programs to help them grow as people and as coffee experts. For example, we have sent our production staff to the Roasters Guild retreat on numerous occasions, so that they can learn from the best in the business and bring that knowledge back to our roastery. 

Secondly, our dedication to education reaches beyond Mighty Good's four locations. We train the staff of our cafe clients, to make sure they're giving the same quality service and skill in drink preparation that you would find at a native Mighty Good cafe. This training is continuous: we host monthly training sessions for wholesale clients, so anyone who needs it can brush up on their brewing skills or latte art. We believe this connection is integral to our wholesale relationships, and we're always happy to welcome new partnerships.

The third facet of our education philosophy is in the interactions we have with our customers. On a day to day basis, we aim to give the people who walk through our doors an experience they wouldn't get elsewhere. Aside from offering delicious coffee, we want our customers to learn something new—whether it's a tip about grinding coffee, or a piece of trivia about the coffee's origin—so they can feel a connection to the coffee they're drinking. 

This is one of the reasons we launched the Coffee With Benefits loyalty program: to encourage an exploration of and conversation about our coffee offerings. To go with that, we've started a series of events in order to further explore and give insight to our company and how we go about serving you coffee. We've done a roastery tour—a look behind the curtain at the methods and tools we use to turn green beans brown. We've done an intro to brewing class, where we show you our manual brew techniques to better understand how we make your coffee every day. In the future we plan to host a home barista class, as well as new coffee cuppings and much more. 

Hopefully, you'll learn something new every time you visit one of our cafes. And if you want to learn even more, sign up for our newsletter to get priority access to all our events (and other stuff as well). 

Sensory Summit, UC Davis, January 25-27 2018.

Every year in January, the UC Davis campus outside of Sacramento, California, hosts a unique event on the coffee calendar. Sensory Summit is a two-day conference “designed to educate, inform, and inspire the Specialty Coffee sensory professional”, according to their website. The goal is to combine scientific rigor with coffee’s inherent subjectiveness in order to better understand the biological underpinnings of the brewing process, as well as the coffee bean itself.

The summit is, at its core, an attempt to comprehend the phenomenon of taste and how it relates to coffee, and to develop the sensory skills of those in the specialty coffee industry. Mighty Good has been privileged to attend the past two conferences (the Summit began in 2016). Over the course of a weekend, we moved from discussions on fermentation in cheese to an exploration of ingredients and flavor in beer, with lectures and talks from academics and scientists, wine experts and coffee roasters.

The UC Davis Coffee Center is the first research department to focus exclusively on the scientific study of coffee. With support from La Marzocco, Probat, Peet’s and the appliance manufacturer Wilbur Curtis, the Center is a pioneering force in coffee research as the industry attempts to improve coffee’s prospects in the longer term. Eventually, the Center hopes to include a pilot roastery, a cupping and sensory lab, a green storage research facility, and a coffee greenhouse.

This year, the event started with  tasty samples from Winters Cheese while discussing the effects of fermentation on the flavor of cheese. It was an incredible variety from mild goats milk to a gouda with a wine-washed rind. As coffee is also a fermented product, we explored this again the next day when Dr. Rosane Schwan from the University of Lavras in Brazil presented coffees that used a variety of fermentation techniques, including adding yeast to the coffee in production to facilitate microbial activity. No surprise, when we tasted this coffee compared to several other techniques, it tasted fantastic.

A presentation on product design and consumer sensory experience was hosted by Richard Harrod, a senior designer at Breville based in Sydney. Exploring the design of their home espresso machines from napkin sketch to finished product was an insight into the incredibly complex world of manufacturing a product for the world-wide market.

Another fascinating topic was the extraction of coffee and flavor depending on the shape of the filter basket and what type of filter is used. When Dr. Bill Ristenpart described freezing the spent coffee and filter and then taking core samples (just like they do of the earth) to examine which part of the coffee was most or least extracted depending on the filter used, you can get a sense of how serious these coffee scientists are.

Further activities included exploring the variety of grains and hops used in beer production (another fermented product) changing weather patterns and global warming are affecting tea production from China to South Carolina. How this affects coffee production is fast becoming an important topic as well.

All in all, it was another fantastic event focused on bringing diversity, ingenuity and innovation to the subject of coffee research. How we approach the study of coffee today will impact how it is grown, harvested and brewed in the future, something that will have an effect on all of our enjoyment of this most delicious of beverages.